House votes to approve impeachment managers, send articles to Senate

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The House of Representatives voted to move forward with the impeachment trial of President Donald Trump Wednesday. House members approved the seven impeachment managers House Speaker Nancy Pelosi appointed earlier Wednesday morning.

Members voted on the resolution to approve the managers and send the articles after a scheduled debate within the House. The resolution passed with a final vote of 228-193.

The House will now formally send the two articles of impeachment to the Senate to begin the official trial where senators will vote on whether to remove the president from office. These are expected to be escorted to the Senate later Wednesday afternoon.

House approves impeachment managers

Speaker Pelosi named seven House members to act as prosecutors in the trial, or “impeachment managers.” They are all Democrats.

She appointed:

• Adam Schiff of California, House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence
• Jerry Nadler of New York, Chair of the House Judiciary Committee
• Zoe Lofgren of California, Chair of the Committee on House Administration
• Hakeem Jeffries of New York, Chair of the House Democratic Caucus
• Val Demings of Florida, Member of both the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and the House Judiciary Committee
• Jason Crow of Colorado, Member of the House Armed Services Committee
• Sylvia Garcia of Texas, Member of the House Judiciary Committee

 

Today, I have the privilege of naming the Managers of the impeachment trial of the President. #DefendOurDemocracy pic.twitter.com/Y2613Ni3pC

— Nancy Pelosi (@SpeakerPelosi) January 15, 2020

Pelosi held a news conference just hours before the House vote. She said the members she chose were based on litigation.

“The emphasis is on comfort level in the courtroom,” Speaker Pelosi said. “The emphasis is on making the strongest possible case to protect and defend our Constitution to seek the truth for the American people.”

Pelosi said she chose representatives she believes reflect the diversity of the Democratic caucus.

During the trial, the Senate will vote on the two articles of impeachment President Donald Trump was charged with in December: obstruction of Congress and abuse of power.

The seven impeachment managers will be present at the impeachment trial, to argue their case before the Senate. Then, the president’s lawyers will present their defense before the full Senate votes on whether to remove him from office.

Utah House Representative responds

Utah Rep. John Curtis joined Dave and Dujanovic this morning, giving his reaction to the news — which he said he wasn’t briefed on before the announcement.

“This is what’s really frustrating to me,” Curtis said. “We’ve been complaining about procedure from day one and I learned, like you did, from a press conference who these managers were. I learned like you learned that we were going to vote on it today.”

Curtis said he knows as much about the current updates as the general public listening to Speaker Pelosi’s news conference.

“Nobody has taken the time to inform or tell us what’s going on.”

Curtis told Dave and Dujanovic how he thinks the House will vote, despite how he wants it to go.

“I think you’re going to see a vote to impeachment,” he said. “I think those of us who don’t feel like they’ve prepared their case well will show that in this vote.”

Trial will move to the Senate

The two articles of impeachment will be formally escorted to the Senate later today, with trial proceedings expected to start as soon as next week.

Curtis said it’s important that everyone outside of the vote understands one thing: he is trying to wrap his mind around how others can see the situation in a different way than he does. He says he, along with other House members, doesn’t feel the evidence from the impeachment vote was sufficient enough for where they are now.

“There’s a lot of us who feel like the House trial wasn’t mature enough. If I were the Senate, I would say, ‘Don’t ask me to vote on this with so little facts and if you do, don’t be surprised on how I vote.’ If I were a senator, that’s how I would feel.”

Listen to the full interview from Dave and Dujanovic’s show Wednesday morning: